It’s an all-F4 affair in junior single-seaters this weekend, with E4, French F4 and Chinese F4 each holding their penultimate events of the season. Find out the title battle permutations for each one and the best way to follow them.

By Feeder Series

After a whirlwind start to the month, we settle down a little bit in anticipation of fall – and next weekend’s frenetic schedule with 13 series. We feature only three series in this preview, all at the F4 level and all with the potential to have champions crowned this weekend.

Most likely to emerge as a new victor is Simon Zhang, who holds a commanding 86-point lead entering the penultimate Chinese F4 round at Chengdu. Alex Munoz in French F4 has 22 points in hand over Jules Roussel – hardly the gap he once had but still enough to make him the firm favourite entering the series’ final two rounds. E4’s championship gap is the smallest of the three, and there’s almost no chance that Gabriel Gomez will seal the deal in round two of three this weekend at Mugello, but nothing is impossible.

SMP F4 also races at Kazan this weekend, while Nordic 4 and Formula Nordic combine once more for their penultimate rounds at Padborg Park. Those are not covered in detail as usual, and because of the absence of a livestream, there is no review currently planned for French F4 either.

1. E4: Round 2, Mugello
2. Chinese F4: Round 4, Chengdu
3. French F4: Round 5, Lédenon

E4: Round 2, Mugello

Circuit: Mugello Circuit, 5.245 km

Schedule: All times local (UTC+2)

Friday 12 September 

• 9:40–10:20: Practice 1
• 13:20–14:00: Practice 2
• 17:20–17:35: Qualifying 1
• 17:45–18:00: Qualifying 2

Saturday 13 September 

• 10:25–10:57: Race 1
• 16:40–17:12: Race 2

Sunday 14 September 

• 10:40–11:12: Race 3

How to follow: Free practice and qualifying sessions are only accessible via live timing. All three races will be live-streamed on the E4 YouTube and Facebook channels and the ACI Sport website. 

Weather forecast: Mostly cloudy all days. Rain expected Saturday night. 

What to know: E4 enters its second round of the season at Mugello this weekend. US Racing’s Gabriel Gomez leads the championship with 68 points and holds a 17-point gap over Italian F4 championship leader Kean Nakamura-Berta. The Brazilian driver won two races in the opening round at Le Castellet, equaling the number of races he won in Italian F4 this year in 14 races.

Mugello already hosted the fourth round of Italian F4 this year, in which R-ace GP’s Alex Powell took his first two wins of the Italian F4 season and PHM Racing debutant Reno Francot impressed with two podium finishes in the second and third races. Both drivers also made an appearance in the higher-level category FRegional Europe at Spielberg last weekend, with Francot taking a rookie win in the second race. Kateyama also held track days at Mugello attended by many F4 drivers on 25 and 26 August. 

There are several driver changes this weekend. Most notably, championship leaders US Racing and runner-up Prema Racing see additions to their line-ups. Ludovico Busso joins US Racing for this round, having raced for Viola Formula Racing in the Formula Winter Series, Italian F4 and the opening round of E4 this year. German driver Arjen Kräling also joins the team for this round and the next after having competed in British F4 with Argenti Motorsport and GB4 with Douglas Motorsport earlier this year. 

Prema will field an additional sixth car for Andrea Dupé, who missed the opening round because of health issues. 

R-ace GP will field a fifth car for Mercedes junior Andy Consani. The 15-year-old Frenchman is prioritising this weekend’s E4 round over French F4’s Lédenon round.

Jenzer Motorsport will reduce their line-up from four to two cars, as Bart Harrison and Enea Frey are absent. Harrison was announced to be joining JHR Developments in GB3 for the remaining two rounds in October, and he took part in a test at Donington Park on Thursday. Feeder Series understands that Harrison will return to Italian F4 with the team. Frey, who joined CL Motorsport for FRegional Europe’s Spielberg round last weekend, confirmed to Feeder Series that he would not be returning to E4 with Jenzer.

Romanian team Real Racing are also absent following the departure of Luca Viișoreanu, who stepped up to Euroformula Open with Team Motopark. 

AKM Motorsport will field five cars this weekend, as Tomass Štolcermanis and Javier Herrera have been added to the line-up. Štolcermanis competed in the first two rounds of Italian F4 with Prema earlier this year before budget issues sidelined him until now. Herrera competed in F4 CEZ and rounds three and five of Italian F4 with Jenzer Motorsport.

Viola Formula Racing are absent from this weekend’s round. So is Benett Gáspár and his Zengő Motorsport team, whose truck Feeder Series spotted in Milan on Monday. 

AS Motorsport join the championship with two cars, fielding an all-female line-up consisting of Mathilda Paatz and Aurelia Nobels. Paatz competed for the team in FWS earlier this year as well as with her family-owned team in F4 CEZ, while Nobels raced in the Eurocup-4 Spanish Winter Championship and F1 Academy for ART Grand Prix. 

Finally, Cram Motorsport join the field with two cars. Elia Weiss continues with the team that currently fields him in Italian F4. He is joined by Italian-Monégasque driver Oscar Repetto, who is making his single-seater debut after having tested with Viola Formula Racing earlier this summer.

Report by Finjo Muschlien

From the press: A week after taking two podiums in his first Italian F4 races of the season, Francot went on to score his and PHM Racing’s maiden E4 victory at Paul Ricard. The Dutch driver discussed his journey from youth footballer to racing driver and the balancing act of racing in five F4 championships in one year. Read the article here.

You can also read the previous round’s report here.

Chinese F4: Round 4, Chengdu

Circuit: Chengdu Tianfu International Circuit, 3.265 km

Schedule: All times local (UTC+8)

Friday 12 September 

• 09:00–09:30: Free practice 1
• 11:30–12:00: Free practice 2
• 15:50–16:10: Qualifying 1
• 17:10–17:30: Qualifying 2

Saturday 13 September

• 10:20–11:00: Race 1
• 14:35–15:15: Race 2

Sunday 14 September

• 11:20–12:00: Race 3
• 15:15–15:55: Race 4

How to follow: Live timing can be found on timing.orbits.cn. Races will be streamed on the series’ Weibo account and Bilibili account. 

Weather forecast: Dry and sunny all weekend. 

What to know: Chinese F4 will be racing at Chengdu for the penultimate round of the season.

Heading into Chengdu, Simon Zhang leads the standings with 258 points and an 86-point lead over Dai Yuhao. Kimi Chan rounds out the top three with 168 points. Zhang took a clean sweep of victories last time out in Zhuhai and could win the championship this weekend if he outscores Dai by 15 points and Chan by 11 points.

GYT Racing’s Jing Zefeng, who last raced in Shanghai, will be replacing Xu Dan for the round in Chengdu. Huang Chujian will replace Lu Ye at Apollo RFN Racing Team by ART, and Geeke ACM’s Shi Wei will make her return to the series after last competing in Shanghai.

Marcus Cheong Man Hei, who last raced in the series in 2024 in the fourth round at Shanghai, will be joining Apollo RFN Racing Team by Blackjack in place of Tiger Zhang. Fifteen-year-old Vernice Lao Si Lun will be joining Asia Racing Team for her single-seater debut, and Zhou Yiran will be joining the new Frankenstein Racing outfit. 

Black Blade GP’s Hu Heng and Henmax Motorsport’s Hon Yingfu will not be racing in Chengdu.  

Report by Kaylene Lau

From the press: In Chinese F4’s most crowded field yet, Simon Zhang has stood out. The secret? A background of competing in multiple F4-level series in Europe with high standards of competition all around him. The Chinese driver sat down with us to talk about his journey to and from China. Read the article here.

You can also read the previous round’s report here.

French F4: Round 5, Lédenon

Circuit: Circuit de Lédenon, 3.151 km

Schedule: All times local (UTC+2)

Thursday 11 September

• 09:00–09:25: Private practice 1
• 10:30–10:55: Private practice 2
• 12:00–12:25: Private practice 3
• 14:45–15:10: Private practice 4
• 16:55–17:20: Private practice 5

Friday 12 September

• 09:40–10:10: Free practice
• 14:30–15:00: Qualifying

Saturday 13 September

• 9:10–9:40: Race 1
• 15:05–15:35: Race 2

Sunday 14 September

• 10:05–10:35: Race 3

How to follow: All sessions will have live timing available on its-live.net. None of the races will be broadcast this weekend, as the series is supporting the FFSA Tourisme TC France championship and not the French GT4 Cup as usual.

Weather forecast: Mostly sunny on Friday and Sunday. Mostly cloudy on Saturday.

What to know: French F4 enters its final month of action with its penultimate round at Lédenon in the south of France.

The round could serve as a first title opportunity for championship leader Alexandre Munoz, who enters this round with a 22-point lead over Jules Roussel. The 16-year-old would need to score 49 points more than his rival to seal the title this weekend, which has never happened this season. 

Behind, Arthur Dorison could continue his streak of four reverse-grid race wins in four rounds, while he will try to resist the rise of Rayan Caretti in the standings after the French-Thai-Senegalese driver’s breakthrough double win in Magny-Cours.

Further back in the standings, several drivers are fighting for the top rookie spot in the standings. The most prominent contenders are Louis Iglesias, Rafaël Pérard, Malo Bolliet and Guillaume Bouzar, all of whom are also looking for their maiden race wins.

For the first time this season, there will be a change to the 30-car grid, with 15-year-old Texas-based driver Jack Iliffe making his single-seater debut as a guest driver. Last year’s WSK Euro Series champion in the OK-Junior class, Iliffe took a year off from karting, doing only a few days of F4 testing with the Winfield Racing School in the meantime. He will be replacing Andy Consani, 11th in the standings, who will be leaving the series to join E4 in Mugello this weekend with R-ace GP.

Report by Perceval Wolff-Taffus

From the press: Caretti’s first two wins in French F4 came after a year and a half of trying – a wait many, including he himself, was too long. The multinational driver spoke to us in the Magny-Cours paddock after his second victory about what the results meant for him and his career as a whole. Read his thoughts here.

You can also read the previous round’s report here.

All times and forecasts listed above are subject to change. For the most up-to-date information, follow each series’ websites or social media pages.

Header photo credit: Federico Basile